Using a transverse set up, the seating for the audience was divided: half to the right and half to the left of the stage. I was in a position to look down upon the actors. As the lights dimmed and I took my seat, my heartbeat slowed and silence descended upon the audience. William Matrosimones Extremities began in an unkempt living room. Lights were dim and Marjorie, the protagonist, stood motionless with her back to a macabre background splattered with grays and blacks. An unlit fire place enclosed by a solid blue grill was to her left; an old couch with blankets in disarray was in front of her; and an unfinished bottle of wine and a glass with lipstick smeared on its edge stood upright on a table to her right.
The set was strewn with disorder and a morbid soundlessness. Then, the silence vanished; disturbing ambient sounds took its place. To instill an altogether eerie atmosphere, offbeat music was incorporated alongside the incessant buzzing of an angry wasp. As unsettling as the music was, it only acted as a taster for the action that was to ensue. Marjorie (Sarah Norwalk) was the victim of an attempted rape. Whilst her attacker, Robert (Evan Powell), taunted her and forced himself upon her, she managed to wriggle free and disable Evan by spraying a chemical substance in his eyes. The struggle for power was at an end and the victim empowered was ruthless in exacting her revenge.
In Extremities, the rapist was not a sex maniac; he had a wife. He craved power not sensual gratification. By ravishing a womans body he hoped to efface her goodness or seize her power but in this piece that was certainly not the case. Marjorie switched roles and made the rapist pay for his actions. She toyed with him like an animal would with its prey. First, she tied him up and blindfolded him. Then she knocked him around, threatened to burn him alive in the fireplace and plant a steel hammer in the back of his head but all of those deaths were too quick, too munificent.
The Essay on Seperation Of Powers
The Judicial Branch in Regard to Separation of Powers The Doctrine of Separation of powers is that political power should be divided among several bodies as a precaution against tyranny. The ideal is opposed the absolute sovereignty of the Crown, Parliament, or any other body. The blueprint for United States separation of powers is laid out in the U.S. Constitution and expanded upon in the ...
So she tried to starve him to death and momentarily thought of burying him in the woods. While she decided how to dispose of him, her female housemates return to find her plotting. From this point onwards, they become both a panel of jurors and judges that ultimately determine this wicked mans faith. On the whole, the acting was good, but Evan Powells performance as the malignant rapist was exceptional. Touch me down there! he barked at Sarah; he was absolutely callous. Furthermore, his cryptic movements in conjunction with his sly, grating intonation indelibly imprinted Robert, the demented rapist, in the onlookers mind. Although most of the main dialogue was allocated to Marjorie, her acting was not quite up to par in comparison with Robert.
Her facial expressions portrayed the emotions but her body was not as convincing. She needed to use the space around her more. Morality, justice, revenge, and appearance versus reality are a few overarching themes; however, ultimately the play is rooted on the audiences members participation or insertion of themselves into the production as an additional cast member. Each of us is supposed to be static and unseen in the backdrop of the action, quietly absorbing the dilemma; the net-effect of our silent scrutiny is we become the forth juror alongside Marjorie, Terry, and Patricia. How does one prove an attempted rape, where no bruises are present? What goes through the mind of the rapist? What goes through the mind of the victim? If given the opportunity to be the law, what would ones final verdict be with regard to the rapist? The director, Jennifer Mingucci, answered the aforementioned questions in an insightful Bonn Theater performance. Her decision, to remove the blindfold at the end and expose the decrepit sightless rapist, left a powerful image of karma vis–vis justice and pity undeserved.
At that moment, the audience unwillingly empathized for Robert. Nevertheless, with an incisive eye for detail and a deep understanding of the essence of this play, she managed to dissect the human psyches response to rape and encapsulate it all with but four cast members in a suspenseful yet riveting drama. The play was a total success. I felt the production reinforced my previous conceptions of rape which is if my sister was raped and I knew the man who did it, I would kill him. I could not allow him to go free to maim another families life. Everyone came away from the production with a different experience but I am one hundred percent sure that no one left thinking the justice system should be more lenient with rapist.
The Essay on What role do audiences play
What role do audiences play in creating popular culture? Explain how Hollywood both manipulated and reflected the popular culture of the 1950's and 60's. The role of the audience is to infuse the fire in the popular culture movement. It appears that Hollywood was caught between the wall and the blade in the 1950’s, on one side you had the dominant culture flexing their muscle to have Hollywood ...
In fact, if the audience were given the opportunity to judge a rape trial which in a sense the play gives them that chance, all would be merciless upon the rapist. The most memorable moment of the play was watching a young dark-haired girl of Asian descent in the audience squirm as Robert viciously stripped away Marjories dress and forced her hand towards his groin. Mingucci pinpointed the psychological effects of rape, implanted it in the audiences minds, and sent them home with a message: how does it feel to be an eyewitness of a rape? This is a must-see performance..